Saving Grace
by vasoline
Summary: Ponyboy faces the trials and tribulations of falling in love with someone he just can't get.


A Pony story by me? What is the world coming to? This story will probably be lighter than other stories I write. This is in the same universe as "You Make Me Real" & "Four Letter Word" (possibly "No Headlights" as well, we'll see) that where the Curly stuff comes from (Nancy, Amara, Lydia) so if you want to you can check that out but you don't need to! Thanks for reading, reviews are welcome :)

Lyrics: Prom Song, Lana Del Rey

* * *

 _you are, by far, the brightest star I've ever seen_

* * *

 **Chapter One**

The cute girl in yellow wasn't just cute anymore. He wondered if he should even call her that. She was working the ring toss and he had been dragged to the fair by Mark. He surely wasn't disappointed.

Ponyboy always had an interest in Deanna Ackerman; even before his "girl faze". He didn't know how he had a phase where he didn't like girls, but he was definitely in one now. Soda had been right though, there would come a day when he didn't want to just look at books. Girls were wonderful. They smelt good, that had soft hair, and they always knew just how to catch your eye. Pony was fairly good with girls, he just wasn't good with Deanna Ackerman. He hadn't spoke to her once.

When he was fourteen she had caught his eye because she had been the only girl he had ever seen to pull off yellow right. Now, it was her short denim cut-offs that caught his eye. They were dangerously short, he was surprised she could even sneak out of the house with those on. He was glad, suddenly, for the irregular heat they were having in September. Tulsa still felt like summer and the girls were surely dressed for it.

"Pony?" Said Mark and Pony's eyes drifted away from Deanna to look at his friend.

"Yeah?"

"Wanna see if we can get into the beer tent?"

Ponyboy eyed the beer tent. It had a "bouncer" outside checking ids but that bouncer just happened to be Mr. Saunders, his English teacher. A real bouncer might have been better since Mr. Saunders was sure to recognize him and know his id was indeed, fake. Pony was acing that class and even had picked up extra assignments after school to boost his average, the man loved him. There was no way he would let Pony into the beer tent, though.

"Nah," he sighed. "Mr. Saunders is working the door. He'd never let me in."

Mark groaned but he had a smirk on his face. "Sometimes I hate you for being so good at school."

Ponyboy rolled his eyes and glanced back at Deanna, still working the ring toss. A little kid had just won and Deanna was grinning wide, handing the little girl a stuffed bear. He wanted to get up the nerve to go up and talk to her but knew better. She was seeing Aaron Newell now and he was a nice guy, in the middle of the spectrum. He had enough money in his pockets to give her anything she wanted, but not so much that his pockets were spilling over. Aaron was on his track team, good guy, and he deserved a girl as great as Deanna. It didn't stop Pony from quietly pining, though.

"I'm gonna go for it anyway," Mark laughed to himself. "I'll see you, hopefully later than sooner."

Mark headed off to the tent and once Pony saw him disappear inside the tent, he knew he wasn't coming back any time soon. Pony wandered around by himself for a while, before making a complete circle to where he started: the ring toss booth. _To hell with it_ , he thought, and got in line. Pony had some loose change in his pocket and he had to get over the fear of talking to her. This would start it off simple and then maybe he would feel confident enough to actually say "hi," when he saw her in passing.

There was a chuckle from behind him as he stood in the line. When he turned, his faced a grinning Curly Shepard. Pony didn't know what was odder: that Curly was grinning or that he was at the carnival, at all. Pony's eyes traveled down to the stroller in Curly's grip, Lydia Shepard inside. Curly must have been stuck babysitting Tim's kid, it was a wonder Curly hadn't lost it yet. It was odd that the guy was grinning because ever since Curly had been dumped, he was gloomy. He didn't cry or anything, just seemed eternally pissed off.

"You still obsessed with that chick?" Curly shook his head at Pony. "You ever gonna just give up?"

"Shut up, man," said Pony, but he was smiling. "Maybe, but not yet."

"I believe in you, man. I mean, if a poetic sensitive guy like you can't get the girl, where's the hope for the rest of us?"

Pony scoffed at the response; Curly still had that shit-eating expression on his face. "Nice to see you outta the house. Got yourself a new girl?"

Curly immediately frowned. "Nah. I'm on my own for a while. Probably best."

Ponyboy nodded and smiled. "While as long as it isn't Nancy, I'm glad."

Curly seemed to flinch away from him at the mention of Nancy and Ponyboy picked up the vibe he was probably screwing around with her again. Pony wished the guy would learn but he always seemed to go back to Nancy like a safety anchor; she was what had caused him to lose Amara, his girlfriend, and the thing that turned Curly into such a mope, but he still screwed around with her.

"Yeah." Curly said, more detached now. "I'll see you around. Gotta get Lydia back to her mom."

Ponyboy nodded and waved his friend off. When he turned around to face the booth once more, he was in the front of the line, Deanna greeting him with a professional smile.

"Five rings for a dollar, ten for a dollar fifty, how many you want?" Deanna asked him politely.

Pony froze for a second, losing the words "five," or "ten," from his vocabulary. He dug around in his pockets and pulled out the change; he had three dollars.

"Ten," he finally said aloud, deciding on the larger amount of rings because it meant just a little more time with Deanna.

She handed him the rings and he instantly regretted lining up for this at all. He was going to embarrass himself; especially with ten rings he was bound to miss. Ponyboy was good at track, _excellent_ even, but had shit hand-eye coordination.

Pony threw nine rings and they were nine misses. Deanna was still smiling at him encouragingly.

"Everyone's bad at this, trust me," she laughed and he loved the sound. "I think they're rigged that way."

"Sure seems like it," Pony grunted, grabbing the last ring from her.

"Last shot, make it count." She said.

The last ring was thrown and Pony almost turned away, believing wholeheartedly that it would bounce off one of the bottles just like all the others, but it surprised him, circling the rim of one of the empty bottles of Coke, before actually staying on the glass, without bouncing off.

"Congrats! You get the extra small prize." Deanna said and she seemed to be teasing him playfully. She gestured to the back row of prizes, filled with tiny stuffed animals, maybe the size of his hand. "What one do you want?"

"I think the blue one is adorable but that's a personal favourite." She added in.

"The blue one." He said without hesitation. She handed it to him.

"Here ya go, Ponyboy. Have a nice day."

He wasn't surprised she knew his name, it wasn't one many people could forget, but he was pleased she did.

"Deanna," Aaron said from behind him. "Your shift over yet?"

Deanna's eyes seemed to light up at the sight of her boyfriend, while Pony's expression couldn't be more opposite. "Indeed it is, why?"

"Want to grab a bite to eat?" He asked, his arms weaving their way across her torso.

"I'd love to." She said, her lips curling. The other girl took over the booth and Deanna walked off with Aaron, kissing him lightly on the lips. Pony frowned.

He decided to leave himself, Mark not appearing to be coming out of the beer tent any time in the near future.

"Hey, Curtis," Angela had been leaning against the car across from his, smoking a cigarette. "You seem glum. Whats got you down?"

"Nothing." Ponyboy said, attempting to sound friendly though he really wasn't in any mood to.

Angela seemed content enough with his answer. "That's a cute bear, did you win it?"

"Yeah," Ponyboy sighed, exhausted from this conversation already – he just wanted to go home. He looked down at the blue bear in his grip; Deanna had been right, it was adorable. But it was just a reminder of his failed attempt at talking to her. "Here, take it. I don't want it."

Angela perked up at his offer and he all but tossed her the stuffed bear.


End file.
